NEW GERMAN CABINET.

Taihape Daily Times, 22 November 1918, Page 6

NEW GERMAN CABINET.

• - ..WHO ARE THEYf A correspondent who has been closely'following the course of events in Germany' has .sent to the "Evening Post" the' following contributed article on the personnel of the first German Cabinet: — The head .of the Cabinet is Herr Ebert (at present). He is l described in ;the cables as a master tailor, of Berlin. Witterle's illuminating work on the members of the Eeichstag knows him not. Dr. Savoca now refers to him in his review of the- members of the various "groups" of the Eeichstag, and though Witterlo was a member of • the Eeichstag for 16 years, representing Alsace until the outbreak of war, lie does not consider him worth mentioning. Herr Haase, who has been allowed during the war to make bombastic speeches in the Eeichstag against the Hohenzollerns, and who has had those speeches telegraphed round the world by the Hohenzollerns, is without doubt and unquestionably a Pan-German, and las not been locked up like Dittman or Liebkneeht, and because his speeches were used to give to the world the right of free speech in the German Parliament, he has been made Minister Of Foreign Affairs. This is clearly farcical.. Herr Schiedemann, the next in order is, according to the Avaunti of Eome the Kaiser's lackey. He is the "arbiter •of fashion'* of the Eeichstag and noted for his curled beard, his brilliant •waistcoats and his sumptuous ties. He calls himself a Socialist, but is described by Witterle as the ineffable Schiedemann. He was used by the party during the war on many, occasions, and is pliable and responsive to the Pan-Germans and I "has a taste for rank and influential i relations. ■/' ■■»"&%) j

Herr Dittman is I believe a genuine Socialist and he is probably the man who was imprisoned for his plain speaking and recently released. It must be remembered, however, that he was among the 111 Socialists who •voted the war credit in 1914, and he did not repudiate the violation of Belgian neutrality. Herr Landberg, who has been made Minister of Publicity . and the Fine Arts is a nonentity, /Herr Bslrtb,, who has been made Minister of Social Policy, whatever that means, is a Marxian Socialist, who has repudiated revolutionary metlods.

"We later read with amazement and incredulity the news that Herr Erzberger and Herr Dernberg will also enter the Cabinet. If this is true —and one must aways preface one's remalrk'es with an "if" when (that news comes from Germany—then it would seem T3at the Cabinet is '' camouflage. '' There are no two men in Germany to-day who more fully represent, the reactionary Junkers and the Kaiser than Erzberger and Dernberg. They are typically Prussian in "their ideas, and men who have proved themselves German to the finger-tips. Before the war Lieber, Spain and Hertling, the "artisans of the Tally of the Centre to Pan-Germanism, made way for Erzberger. It was Erzberger, who, in 1917, in the Eeichstag,, said: "In 1905 we missed a unique opportunity of finishing France, then completely disarmed." Erzberger is a con vinced and determined supporter of ■ Hhnpeorialism;, .and "was desoritfed by Dr. Liebknecht, as a man without convictions but with plenty of appetite < Matthias Erzberger was a teacher of Wurtemberg, who was first known In. the anti-dueal movement. He soon saw that the Centre offered better opportunities than the Democracy. "At a day's notice," says Witterle, "lie turned his coat.'' A prodigious work : er, with an extraordinary memory, he soon made himself felt. He brought about the "dissolution of the Eeichsfag in 1906, and conquered Dernberg, who was Secretary of State, through Ms dominant personality and force of character. Ho aspires to be head of the German Colonial Administration —whatever that represents to-day. He had made a huge fortune in speculation. His opponents say he will end by compromising himself, and Witterle says that in the "Verinsbank smash .and the smash of the Eeal Estato Agent Jahn lie escaped by the skin of his teeth. He has no nobility of feeling; he is loud, rude, and domineering. During the present war he has been to Italy as an envoy and was mot a success. Muller-Fulda is the only man who has been able to use him, and no one knows how he gets this power. ' I can only end this short sketch by saying: Fancy a Haase or a Seheideanann trying to deal with Erzberger. Dr. Dernberg, the other cabled addition to the so-called revolutionary Cabinet, was Secretary of State of the ■Empire, is a right-hand helper of the Hohenzollerns, and always has been. With these few notes we may be better able to decide whether or not the new "'"Cabinet is a genuine expression o + ' •> iaew order.